Long-term investment in Bitcoin remains promising despite market volatility, says Kumar Gaurav of Cashaa

Bitcoin experienced a significant decline post-halving. From an investor's standpoint, how would you interpret this movement, and what strategies would you recommend in such a scenario?
Kumar Gaurav: The recent decline in post halving is actually on expected lines for a lot of investors who have been in the market since the previous halvings. The prices generally tend to dip immediately following the halving before recovering and steadily rising after a few months. One of the reasons is stockpiling of bitcoins by miners as well as institutional investors before halving in anticipation of the price rise. This shores up the bitcoin prices before the halving and post halving when they start selling, we see a temporary dip. Long term investors could view this as a buying opportunity, looking at past trends. Bitcoin prices were already bulked up beforehand following the Bitcoin ETF approval by the in Jan 2024. So, this halving was already preceded by an equally seismic event and hence we will have to wait for some time yet before seeing the effect of halving kicking in. Not a financial advice.

Can you provide insights into Caasha's growth trajectory in recent years and outline your vision for the company over the next five years?
Kumar Gaurav: Cashaa started in 2016 as the first to use the Bitcoin infrastructure to offer zero cost peer-to-peer international transfers in Asia and Africa. In 2018, Cashaa began providing business banking accounts and crypto wallets to well-known crypto businesses like Nexo, Binance, Polygon, CoinDCX, etc. Over the last 6 years, we have onboarded and helped more than 500 crypto companies get connected to banking and grow with us. Now we are bringing the same trust, security and industry know-how to the personal wallet and retail space as Cashaa focuses on achieving its ultimate goal of enabling mass adoption of crypto. We are launching our earn, borrow, spend and store wallets in seven regions including Europe, UAE, India, Turkey, Indonesia, South Africa and Kenya as the first phase of our new direct-to-consumer business model, centered around the utilities of our native CAS token.

Given the recent correction in Bitcoin prices, do you believe it presents an opportune moment for investors to enter the market, and what factors should they consider before making ?
Kumar Gaurav: Any time is a good time to buy into Bitcoin and crypto according to us. Especially from a long term investment perspective. That said each investor has to do their own research, consider their holding power vis-à-vis the inevitable price fluctuations in Bitcoin and crypto prices and then make an informed decision whether to invest now.

Considering the prevailing market conditions, what are your short to medium-term predictions regarding Bitcoin's price movement, and what key factors do you anticipate will influence these trends?
Kumar Gaurav: We do not venture into price predictions over the short and medium-term, as the bitcoin and crypto prices are dependent on a myriad of both known and unknown factors. As pioneers and educators in the field of crypto, Cashaa exercises considerable influence among its community members and we take this responsibility seriously.

How does Caasha view 's willingness to oversee crypto trade in India, particularly in light of the Reserve Bank's differing stance? And what potential implications does this regulatory shift hold for Indian investors?
Kumar Gaurav: The stance of SEBI will definitely be welcomed by the crypto industry and users in India. It acts as a balancing of scales when one considers the cautious stance that has clung to regarding crypto since the very beginning. Since cryptocurrencies have widespread use cases of distinctly varying natures and applications, they can fall under the purview of different regulators and we welcome any discussions that have the potential of making cryptocurrencies a viable investment avenue in the country. Proper regulatory oversight coupled with rationalisation of capital gains tax and TDS can prove to be just the incentive required for Indian investors to enter the in droves as it will make crypto safer and more attractive as an investment and also hedging avenue.

Despite a sky-high tax and TDS regime, the interest in crypto in India has always been at par or greater than the countries in the West who have been ahead of India in creating a reasonable for crypto to grow. The same kind of regulatory environment can spur investments in crypto not only from institutions but also retail users.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)

Source: Forex-Markets-Economic Times